My invention relates to the selection of curling rods for use in the permanent waving of hair and, more particularly, to an instrument which will aid the hairdresser in achieving a more precise and rapid rod selection and better permanent waving.
Heretofore, the hairdresser has received instructions for permanent waving while a student in school. However, directions she has followed may have to be modified when she becomes employed by a beauty shop which uses a different permanent waving product from the one used by the school. Also, manufacturers are continually marketing new products with new processes. With some permanent waving products the methods may vary so widely that instruction manuals and/or wall charts with illustrations have to be supplied. Constant reference to these during the permanent waving is tedium, time-consuming, and destructive to good customer relationships.
In all instructions, one of the most important steps, and one which is common to all permanent waving methods, is the selection of the curling rods to be used on the head. Rod selection for the various sections of hair on the head is the key to obtaining the permanent curling of each wound hair strand so that the finished permanent waved hair on the entire head may be styled into the coiffure desired by the customer, and agreed to by the hairdresser in consultation with the customer, prior to the start of the wave. The hair on the head is cut to conform to this desired coiffure. This is always done prior to the waving. Some hairdressers may prefer to give a finishing "trim" after the permanent wave but hair on the various sections of the head must be at least "rough-cut" to the approximate lengths desired in the finished coiffure. The various sections of the head are divided into the "front", "crown," "temple," and "nape" areas but these may be subdivided in the descriptive terms "left" and "right" and "upper" and "lower."
In the selection of rods, the hairdresser must know these exact lengths of the hair in the various sections of the hair, after the hair is "cut" or "rough-cut." While these simple measurements may be made with a ruler, they must be immediately integrated with several other factors in order to select the proper rod upon which to wind the measured hair. These factors are the diameter of the hair, better known by the hairdresser as the "texture" of the hair and the desired "configuration" of the permanently formed curl. "Texture" of hair will vary from "Medium to Coarse" and from "Medium to Fine." Configuration of the curl may vary from a "soft curl" or "wavy" to a "medium curl" or "curly" to an extremely "tight curl" or "very curly."
Thus, there are quite a few variables that must be integrated in order to select the proper size rod and since the number of rods may be as many as seven in number, and whose diameters will vary from a very small diameter to a diameter three or four times greater, the hairdresser can easily make a mistake in the selection of the right rod.
Therefore, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a rod selector guide which incorporates all of the alternative factors required to select a rod size and provides quickly identifiable display of the optimum rod size for any combination of factors.
Another object of this invention is to provide a rod selector guide having the characteristic features defined above which is adaptable to all permanent waving situations.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a rod selector guide having the characteristic features defined above wherein the guide is easily held in the hand of the hairdresser for quick and easy reference.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a rod selector guide having the characteristic features defined above which is also capable of measuring the length of the hair.
Other and more specific objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.